QLD How to Get Car Back from Ex?

[Colin Neil Tareeala]

Hi everyone, I'm new to this. I'm trying to find out what I can actually do to have my car returned from an ex who the Police put an order on me against.

I purchased a car couple years ago under car finance only in my name, but the ex's car at the time was stuffed, it was no good, so on purchasing the new car, we traded the broken one in for $3000, but ever since only I have been making the payments on the vehicle till this day.

The ex took it before I got home. She has not paid one dime on it, but we put her name on the rego that's all. All the finance is in my name and only I make the payments. Now the police obviously won't help, so I have to see a lawyer I guess, but I need to know what my chances are of getting it back.

Sorry for the long story.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Do you have children? That might determine how you proceed from here. The almost exact same thing happened to me a while ago. Because my ex took out an intervention order (VIC equivalent of your family violence order, I'm guessing) with both herself and the children named as protected persons, she took control of our house, all of our joint possessions, including the car in my name. Because she also assumed full control of the children in the process, my own lawyer told me that it would look extremely unfavourable for me to try to recover the car since she was using it to transport the children and she would be left without a car if I tried anything to take it back.

So it was legal theft basically. It was morally more my car than hers, but even if you could say it was both of ours equally, then the only fair thing to do would be force the sale the car and buy two cheaper cars with the proceeds IMO. But no, apparently not according to my lawyer, who told me to just forget about all my personal possessions and jointly owned possessions left in the house. So I was left without a car and my ex got to keep mine. The law is far from fair sometimes.

 

[sammy01]

She owns the car.

You own the debt.

Stop paying the finance would be my opinion based on the info provided in your post. But what other info is there? Kids? Mortgage? How long is left on the finance? How long were you together?

 

[Tremaine]

Does the car act as security on the loan?

 

[Colin Neil Tareeala]

Do you have children? That might determine how you proceed from here. The almost exactly same thing happened to me a while ago. Because my ex took out an intervention order (VIC equivalent of your family violence order, I'm guessing) with both herself and the children named as protected persons, she took control of our house, all of our joint possessions, including the car in my name. Because she also assumed full control of the children in the process, my own lawyer told me that it would look extremely unfavourable for me to try to recover the car since she was using it to transport the children and she would be left without a car if I tried anything to take it back. So it was legal theft basically. It was morally more my car than hers, but even if you could say it was both of ours equally, then the only fair thing to do would be force the sale the car and buy two cheaper cars with the proceeds IMO. But no, apparently not according to my lawyer, who told me to just forget about all my personal possessions and jointly owned possessions left in the house. So I was left without a car and my ex got to keep mine. The law is far from fair sometimes.

Hey there, we never had kids. She has a kid from a previous relationship who is 6 now. She can get her parents to pay the loan and the y keep it and still have a car, or otherwise yeah, I'll have to just stop payments

 

[Colin Neil Tareeala]

she owns the car.
You own the debt.
Stop paying the finance would be my advice based on the info provided in your post. But what other info is there? Kids? mortgage? how long is left on the finance? how long were you together?

She has a kid from previous relationship. We didn't have a mortgage. The loan finishes 2021, 2 years we were together.

She has a kid from previous relationship, we didnt have a mortgage , the loan finishes 2021 2 years we were together.

Is that correct ? She owns the car now and i own the debt ?

 

[sammy01]

Yep . If she is the registered owner she owns it. The loan is in your name. You own the debt.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Sammy, but in my case, I owned the car and she got to keep it anyway. Name on registration means nothing in that case. The only thing she can't do is sell it, but she can drive it until the wheels fall off and there's no value left in it.

Colin, you were living (by the sounds of it) in a de facto relationship, so both the car ownership and the debt is shared and you are both entitled and liable respectively. At least if you wanted to pursue it. The sad fact of the matter is that unless you have a valuable asset like a house to split, it's likely to be uneconomic to attempt to resolve the matter through legal means.

 

[sammy01]

Glasshalffull is technically right - It is all part of asset division. But to get a family law asset division sorted Colin is gonna need to go through family law. Unless the car is a brand new Ferrari I reckon old mate is wasting his time.

Now she can sell it and if the buyer doesn't check to see if there is any finance on the car then she can sell it and pocket the cash...

So back to square one - spend money on solicitors $$$$ ouch expensive OR stop paying the loan and let the credit rating cop a hiding.... But If old make isn't looking at buying a house anytime in the next 3-4 years the whole credit rating thing won't matter all that much.

Car gets re-possessed they sell it and you're not paying anymore. Easiest solution.

 

[GlassHalfFull]

Yeah, so the sad fact of the matter is that although he's been the one paying it off, she gets to keep it and there's effectively nothing he can do about it. It's truly amazing how if you shoplift a banana from a supermarket, you could be arrested and get a criminal record, and yet legal theft of much larger values (tens of thousands of dollars) during separation, aided and abetted by family violence laws, happens every single day without any penalty.